"A bad game loosely based off a bad book."

Ever since reading Eragon, I have long awaited the release of the game and movies. Just to experience them, to relive that oh so TERRIBLE story. And as soon as I saw this game on the shelves, my heart skipped. I popped it in the 360 and was overcome with glee as the game unfolded to be worse and worse. The game did exactly what I wanted it to: suck.

GAMEPLAY 3/10:You're Eragon, a random kid in a random town who just happens to find a random dragon. And what does any kid in any random town have to do when they find something cool? Why, fight off hundreds of enemies who all look the same! That's right folks, you'll be hackin and slashin your way through handfuls of enemies! Luckily for you, you have a "deep" combo system: A A A, or A B A, and you could mix it up with a B A A if you feel like it. Go crazy. Sword not for you? Use your bow! As long as there's an enemy or plot device to shoot, you'll target it flawlessly. And it's a damn good thing you never run out of ammo. Magic is here too, you can use Force Push, Pull, and Force Assemble Bridge. Other nifty tricks too (like the hilarious fireball), but a good arrow to the face or combo is just as efficient. Dragons come into play too. Yours does, at least. You can call it for help, and it'll do some killing until it gets hit by one arrow, then runs away, You're left to take all the other arrows to the face. Ride the dragon too! Blow up armies (Armies that have life bars mind you) with some of the worst camera angles I've ever seen. Flying the dragon is simple enough, but the ever swinging camera often leads to crashes and the like. Level progression is like the LOTR games, there is one path to go on and plenty of enemies along the way for you and your Human or Computer controlled friend to cut up. And thats....about it? Oh, I forgot, you can find Secret Eggs too. Hooray for unlockables.

GRAPHICS 7/10...for a PS2 game:Simply put: bad. Lighting effects are non existent, water looked better in Blood Wake. Enemies only have one skin per type, so you'll fight the same Average Joe's every level of the game. Scenery is 2D, forget flowing hair or things blowing in the wind. The cut scenes aren't redeeming at all, they do a sort of picture book thing. Maybe the producers wanted to say "It's a story, read from a BOOK!" but all they really said was "I'm lazy." Hm...redeeming qualities... Swords have a pretty little trail behind them....Yeah.

SOUND 5/10:Nothing really BAD, nothing really GOOD. Music was there, sword clashes and swipes were there, voices were there. One thing I liked: characters talk to each other. If you do a grapple, Brom might say "Nice grapple."

MISCELLANEOUS:The story is loosely based off the book, taking you to key places but for some reason throwing in lots of bad guys. I'll waive this since it's a video game, and there needs to be more baddies where in the book there was hardly any. Though, if you read the book, expect to say "THAT NEVER HAPPENED" a lot. Camera controls are nonexistent, often leading to trouble. You may find yourself very small, or hidden. The camera does work well in showing you which way to go, however. The 360 extra content is a good addition, but it's really not much at all. The game length is thoroughly short, which leads to my final conclusion...

Eragon: 3/10.Rent, if easily amused by swinging a sword. Otherwise, avoid. And look for me at the premier of the Eragon movie, I'll be there with a shirt that says "Eragon Sucks"